Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-07-02
CHAPTER XVI.
PRETORIA.

jess did not have q very happy time OF it
at Pretoria previous to the outbreak of hos
tilities. Most people who have made q great
moral effort, and after a severe mental strug-
glo entered on the drear puth of self sacrifice,
have experienced tho reaction that will fol-
low as certainly as tho night follows tho day.
1t is one thing to renounce tho light, to stand
in the full glow Of the setting beams of our
imperial joy and chant out our farewell, and
quite another to live alone in tho darkness.
For a little while memory may support us,
but memory grows faint. On every side Is
tho thick, cherries pail and the stiffness
through which no sound comes. We arc
alone, quite alone, cut OFF from tho fellow
ship Of the day, unsceing and unseen. More
especially is this so when our dungeon is Of
our own making, and we ourselves have shot
its bolts. There is q natural night that comes
to all, and in its unwavering course swallows
every hopo and fear, forever and forever. To
this we can moro costly resign ourselves, for
We recognize the universal lot and bow our
selves beneath the all effacing hand. The
earth does not pine whcn the daylight passes
from its peaks; it only sleeps.
But jess had buried herself, and she knew
it. There was no absolute need for her to
have resigned her affection to her sister; she
had done so Of her own will, and at times she
naturally enough regretted it. Self denial is
a stern faced angel. II only wo hold him fast
and wrestlc with him long enough he will
speak us soft words of happy sound, just as,
il we wait long enough in the darkness of the
night, stars will come to share our loneliness.
Still this is one of those things that time hides
from us and only reveals Mt his own pleasure;
and so far as jess was concerned, his pleasure
was not yet. Outwardly, however, she
showed no sign of her distress and Of the pas
sion which was eating at her heart. She was
pale and silent, it is true, but then she had al
ways been remarkable for her pallor and
silence. Only she gave up her singing.
And so the weeks went on, drearily enough
for the poor girl, who was doing what other
people did-eating and drinking, riding and
going to parties like the rest of the Pretoria
world, till at last she began to think that she
had better be going home again, lest she
should wear out her welcome. And yet she
dreaded to do so, mindful of hor daily prayer
to be delivered from temptation. As to what
was going on at Mooifontein she was in al
most complete ignorance. Bessie wrote to
her, Of course, and so did her uncle once or
twice, but they did not tellher much of what
she wanted to know. Bessie's letters were, it
is true, full Of illusions Of what Capt. Mel
was doing, but she did not 60 beyond that.
Her reticcnce, however, told her observant
sister more than her words. Why was she 50
reticent? No doubt because things still hung
in the balance. And then she would think Of
what 1t all meant for her, and now and again
give way to an outburst Of passionate jeal-
ousy, which would have been painful enough
to witness if anybody could have been there
to zee it.
And 30 the time went on toward Christmas,
for jess, having been warmly pressed to do
so, had settled to stay over Christmas and re-
turn to the farm with the new year. There
had been q great deal Of talk in the town
about the Beers, but she was too much preoc-
cupied with her own affairs TO pay much at
tention to it. Nor, indeed, was the public
mind greatly moved; they were 10 much &C.
customed to Boer scares at Pretoria, and hith-
erto they had invariably ended in smoke. And
then all OF q sudden, on the morning Of the
18th Of December, came the Jews Of the proc
lamation Of the republic, and the town was
thrown into o ferment, and there was a talk
of going into lager, and, anxious as she was
to get away, Jess could see no hope Of return
ing to the farm till the excitement was over.
Then q day or two later Conductor Egerton
came limping into Pretoria from the scene Of
the disaster at Bronker's Spruit, with the col
ors Of the Ninety-fourth regiment tied round
his middle, and such a tale to tell that the
blood went to her heart and seemed to stag
nate there as she listened to it.
And after that there was confusion worse